her now, he knew that he loved her as much as when he’d first met her. Then he’d been a muscular, blond-haired, idealistic lieutenant. Now he was a slim, ramrod-backed, gray-haired general with wisdom and a scar that ran from a blue eye down to the corner of his mouth.
A memento from Afghanistan.
A mujahideen knife.
He looked at his premier and spoke quietly. “What are your orders?”
The president blew out smoke. “You’d accept them?”
“It depends on whether they’re right.”
The president smiled. “Perhaps you forget your status.”
“Perhaps you forget whose fucking house you’re in.”
The premier laughed, then frowned. “I’m tempted to expel the American ambassador.”
“Go ahead. But you’ll make a fool of yourself.”
“I don’t need your blessing.”
“No, but you’ll need my army if it all goes wrong.”
“ My army.”
“Your army, if you like.” He kept his eyes on his children before turning to his commander in chief. “We’re not seven years old. Your army. I don’t care.”
The president was silent for a while. “Why are you angry with me?”
“Not you. I’m angry with history. Every Russian president has made his general into a psychopath.”
“I think you’ve had too much Hennessy.”
“No, I’m stone-cold sober.” Platonov looked sternly at his leader. “Don’t bait the Americans. They can slaughter us.”
“I’ve no intention of baiting them. On the contrary, they’re the ones who’re being provocative.”
“Then sort it out. Politically.”
The president blew out more smoke; it hung in the icy air. “With you in charge, there’d be no slaughter.”
“Rubbish.” Platonov looked at his wife moving across the kitchen. It marveled him that she’d not lost her effect on him. He looked at the children and felt a chill run through his body. “If you fuck up, I’ll send every Russian soldier to meet an American invasion force. They’ll all die, but that’s what we do and that’s how we fight. And I’ll just be another psychopath.”
“I don’t want a fight.”
“But you’ll have one at the drop of a hat.”
“You read me wrong.”
“I read you fine.”
The president moved closer to Platonov. “How is the nuclear training exercise progressing?”
The question lightened Platonov’s mood. “It’s going very well. But Colonel Khmelnytsky still has more work to do. In particular, we need to test the feasibility of deploying the devices from sea. The final phase of the exercise will be focused on targeting naval installations.”
“Good.” The president was keen to get back into the warmth of the house. “Should we be concerned about the three American submarines?”
Platonov laughed. “They’re just playing games. But one of our new stealth destroyers will be waiting for them in the Barents Sea. It will make them turn around.”
The premier flicked his cigar onto the chessboard. “Come on, let’s get another drink.” He stepped forward, then stopped. “I’m not going to fuck up, and I hope the Americans don’t either. I’m sure it will be fine, but-” He shivered. “My orders. If anything does happen, make sure our entire military is battle-ready.”
Chapter Thirty-three
Morning broke to reveal a sky filled with gray clouds pouring snow over the city of Vladivostok.
The lounge in Korina’s house was thick with the smoke from cigarettes and steam from mugs of coffee. Korina had been out of the room for thirty minutes, and when she reemerged she was showered and had changed into smart charcoal gray pants, a white blouse, and a box jacket. Her body lotions and perfume brought a welcome fresh scent into the musty room.
She looked directly at Will. “I’ll need an hour in my office to go through GRU databases.”
“All right. Can we wait for you here?”
“Sure. Just don’t go through my things.” Korina smiled, donned her outer garments, and walked out of her home.
Will glanced at his watch, waited a few seconds, looked at Laith, and spoke with a stern voice. “Get on foot and tail her. Roger, I want you in one of our vehicles. I’ll parallel Laith’s route. All cells dialed into my number. Listen to my commands, because if she does anything stupid we’ll have to move very quickly.”
T hirty minutes later, Will was standing close to the quayside of Vladivostok’s naval port. Snow pelted his face, and he pulled up the collar of his overcoat to further shield him from the bitter weather. Placing his hands back into his coat pockets, his fingers caressed his QSZ-92 handgun. He heard Laith’s voice in his bluetooth earpiece.
“She’s been in the base for ten minutes. Four soldiers are guarding the main entrance. So far, all looks quiet.”
It seemed that the GRU offices were not in the Pacific Fleet HQ building, as Korina had entered one of the nearby militarized and restricted naval zones of the port. Will imagined that the naval GRU probably had only a few offices in the zone, the rest of the buildings being used by hundreds of navy sailors and administrators. Laith was barely a hundred and fifty feet away from the entrance to the base. Roger and Will were farther east, with Roger covering the northern flank of their surveillance box in the Audi A8 and Will covering the south. Only Laith had visibility of the militarized zone.
Will heard a loud horn from behind him. Turning, he saw a huge aircraft carrier, fully laden with MiG-29Ks and Su-33s, cruise slowly close to the port. Sailors were on deck, moving quickly, clearly tasked with numerous jobs. The horn boomed again before the massive vessel turned and began sailing away.
Will shivered, but not from the cold. “Anything unusual at the base?”
Laith responded, “You’ll be the first to know if there is.”
Roger said, “Nothing where I am except a few crazy pedestrians who think today’s a good day to go shopping.”
Will wrapped his arms around his chest, shivered again, and saw his breath steam into the icy air. Wind blasted him from the sea, carrying with it even more snow. He looked at the other destroyers and frigates moored in the port. All of them were illuminated and had signs of activity. Some were taking on fresh provisions from four- ton trucks parked on the big piers adjacent to the vessels. They were clearly making ready to sail.
Forty minutes later Laith said, “Unmarked SUV stops at the entrance to the base, two men inside, ID cards are shown to the guards, the barrier is lifted, the SUV drives into the base.”
Will immediately pressed his hand against his earpiece. “Were the men uniformed?”
Laith muttered, “Couldn’t see from my position.”
Roger added, “Uniforms or no uniforms, these militarized zones will contain as many civilian workers as sailors. The vehicle’s probably normal.”
Will let his hand fall to his side. He knew Roger was most likely right. But he felt unusually tense and, despite his attempts to try to relax, could not help feeling that right now everything was out of his control.
A further twenty minutes passed before Laith spoke again. “The barrier’s being lifted; something’s obviously coming out, as there’s nothing in front of the base.” The line went quiet. “Okay, I can see the same SUV.”
Will and Roger said nothing as they waited for their ex-Delta Force colleague to speak again.
“Two men in the SUV I saw earlier… yes, same two men in the front, but… something else in the back, can’t see yet.”
Static sounded in Will’s earpiece.
“Vehicle approaches barrier, front male passenger waves a hand at guard, who is at attention and saluting,
